


A Death in the Family

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Thicker than Water [18]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:26:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2432093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Besides, what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t constantly borrow money from you for one failed scheme after another as I aimlessly shuffled through life?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Death in the Family

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written in the **Thicker than Water** universe, where the BAU are kids and teens. It was written for the alphabet writing meme and [](http://kosmickway.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://kosmickway.livejournal.com/)**kosmickway** ’s prompt of **K is for karma**.

Emily opened the attic door and walked up the stairs. She could hear music coming from Morgan’s room, Van Halen, but when she got to the top of the stairs Hotch’s door was closed.

“Is he asleep?” she asked, poking her head in Morgan’s door.

“I don’t think so. You can just knock.”

Emily nodded, doing just that. Hotch and Morgan loved living in the attic. Everyone loved the new house and the few months they'd been there had been happy for the whole family. Jason still made sure everyone ate dinner together and had family movie night once a week. He wanted to hold on to the togetherness of the old apartment. So did everyone else.

But it was also nice to have space to create your own environment. JJ and Penelope still shared a room, the big one in the back, but everyone else had their own. Jason even had his own bathroom. There was a powder room downstairs that blew the kids’ minds when they first saw it.

Not even having more chores could sour them to the new house. All this and it was just four blocks from where they lived before. It was perfect. She knocked on Hotch’s door again; maybe he was wearing his earphones.

“Come in.”

“Hey.” Emily opened the door. “I need to talk; do you have a few minutes?”

“Sure.”

Hotch sat up on his bed, putting his magazine face down beside him. Emily came in but didn’t close the door completely. She sat down on his bed as well.

“What's up?” Hotch asked.

“I just need some advice. I wasn’t sure who to go to but in the end I think you’re the best person to talk to, at least to start.”

“I'm here for whatever you need. Wait…” he held up his hand. “Unless this is love advice, because I'm probably the last person you should talk to if it is. Jason is my best friend and I never, ever, ever want to hear about what you two are doing.”

“We’re not doing anything.” Emily replied. It was a little white lie but Hotch didn’t need to know that.

“I don’t want to know.” He covered his ears and closed his eyes.

“Oh stop.” She giggled, pulling his hands away from his ears. “Its not love advice.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

“OK, what's up?”

“Do you remember the certified letter I got a few days ago?” Emily asked.

“I didn’t know you got a certified letter.” Hotch replied.

“Oh, well Dave stopped by because they sent a certified letter for me to his place. Erin signed for it and he brought it over.”

“What was it?”

She took a deep breath, not sure how to say the words. Emily hadn't said them aloud yet. They surely didn’t affect her like they would another person about to say them. Still, they meant something.

“My Uncle died.”

“When?” Hotch asked. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He didn’t know the man. He suspected some of what he’d done to Emily and that made Hotch hate him. No tears would be shed for Jonathan Prentiss by him.

“It was about two weeks ago. I hate to say I don’t care because that’s not quite true but I won't mourn him or anything. Karma’s a bitch, as Lindsay would say.”

“The only way it would be karma is if someone cut his dick off.” Hotch replied before he could stop himself. He covered his mouth. “My God, Em, I'm sorry.”

“It’s OK.” She put her hand on his arm. “Really, I mean it.”

“What did he die from?”

“The letter said he had a brain aneurysm.” Emily shrugged.

Then that wasn’t karma, Hotch thought, unless it hurt. He hoped it hurt a lot and couldn’t make himself feel bad for it. At least that creep wouldn’t hurt Emily or anyone else ever again.

“Well you're emancipated; why bother to notify you?”

“Apparently, my Uncle left me something in his will. My grandmother could fight it if she wanted to but she probably doesn’t care enough to. I was being notified of my inheritance.”

“What did he leave you?”

“$10 million.”

“Holy hell!” he covered his mouth again. “Are you serious?”

“I wouldn’t joke about anything like that, Hotch. It’s just…it seems like hush money or something even dirtier. After all I've been through, all he did to me, he leaves me money. What for? I have my own.”

“Did he have any children?” Hotch asked.

“No, not to my knowledge. He never married though I knew he had lovers. My Uncle had certain tastes and he used his money and influence to fulfill them. I'm sure he left money to charities and Washington and Lee University because he went to school there. After my dad died, Grandmother and I were his only blood family. At least I think we were. I don’t want his money, Hotch.”

“You could give it to charity. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love to have it.”

“I want to do that with some of it. But I had an idea and I wanted to run it by you.”

“What?”

“I thought about setting up trusts for everyone.” Emily replied.

“What do you mean everyone?”

“I mean you, Derek, JJ, Penelope, and Spencer.”

“I don’t need money, Emily. My parents left me some when they died. It’ll cover my education and there will be a little left over when that’s done. But I wouldn’t ask that of you.”

Emily thought about saying she wanted to, pushing the subject, but she knew Hotch well. When he didn’t want something, he didn’t want it. There were probably a billion reasons he didn’t, one being he wasn’t fond of being a charity case. But she also knew that he had figured her Uncle out.

Maybe she wanted him to the night she told him about it. Hotch didn’t want any of his hush money either. But if Emily gave away with love then it wouldn’t be that anymore. Right?

“OK.” She nodded.

“Besides, what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t constantly borrow money from you for one failed scheme after another as I aimlessly shuffled through life?” He grinned.

“Yeah right.” She gave him a playful punch in the arm. “You know you're gonna be a success at whatever you put your mind to. What do you think about the little ones though, and Derek? Should I do it? They don’t have family and its not about making them rich, which I guess it would, but its just something they can have that they didn’t have before. Is it a bad idea?”

“I don’t think so.” Hotch replied, shaking his head. “It’s coming from the heart and your desire to take care of your family. That could never be a bad idea. I mean, not that I know anything about establishing trusts or anything close to that. Why didn’t you talk to Jason about this?”

“I just wanted to run it by someone first.” She said. “I didn’t want to bark up the wrong tree.”

Hotch nodded. He thought it would be nice to set up something for the family but wasn’t sure how Jason or anyone else would feel about it. Emily Prentiss was loaded. She was loaded before this and now she really was. She didn’t need the money but didn’t want to give it all away.

“I say give half away and set up the other half for the family.” He said. “That’s five million divided by four. Each person would have $1.25 million, which is a pretty nifty 18th birthday gift.”

“25 I think.”

“25 what?” Hotch asked.

“They should get access to the trust on their 25th birthdays. Maybe even something like the 25th birthday or graduation from college, whichever comes first? I just don’t want kids having that kind of money…it seems irresponsible.”

“Yeah, OK.”

“Thanks Hotch; thanks for listening to me talk.”

“That’s what twins are for.” He smiled. “Thanks for not asking me love advice.”

Emily laughed, hugging him. They didn’t hug a lot but she felt compelled to now. She didn’t know how comfortable or uncomfortable he was but Hotch hugged her back. That was a good sign.

“Hey Hotch, did…oh, I'm sorry.” Jason stepped in but stepped back when he saw them hugging. “I guess I should've knocked.”

“No, it’s OK.” Hotch replied.

“It looks as if I interrupted something.”

“You didn’t.” Hotch said. “We were just finished actually.”

Emily didn’t say anything but when Jason looked at her, she gave him a little smile. He didn’t return it.

“Spencer thought he might have left his library book up here. He was reading earlier.”

“Check Morgan’s room. He was playing in there.”

“Thanks.” Jason turned and walked away.

“I better go and talk to him.” Emily stood from the bed. “Thanks again.”

“Sure. I hope that something good can come out of everything that’s happened.”

“Me too.”

She smiled and walked out of the room. She and Jason met in the middle. He was carrying _Brideshead Revisited_.

“I found it.” he said.

“Good. JJ already scared Spencer by telling him that if he doesn’t return library books on time they’ll make him work as a slave in the library’s dark basement. I had a little talk with her about that one.”

“That was probably a good idea.” Jason waved her ahead. “Ladies first.”

“Thanks. Can I talk to you about something?”

He nodded. He wasn’t sure what he walked in on so he kept his thoughts to himself. Emily and Hotch were close, like twins; he knew that. He also knew how crazy misunderstandings could get, like the incident with Sarah Bickle. It was better to know what was going on than to jump to conclusions. They were all happy right now and surely there would be more hurdles to come as he started college, Morgan started high school, and life pressed on. There was no need to create problems when there were none.

“Is everything OK?” he asked.

“Yes. I just have this idea, I think it might be a good one, and I want to talk about it.”

“Let me give Spencer his book, make sure he's in bed, and we’ll meet in my room.”

“OK.” Emily smiled, leaning to kiss his cheek.

“What was that for?” Jason asked.

“Nothing…it was just because I wanted to. You’re the best, Jason Gideon.”

He smiled, stroking his hand across her cheek. They walked down the hall together, Jason stopping in Spencer’s room and Emily going to his to wait for him.

***

  



End file.
